Jamie stroked her horse’s mane, her gaze fixed on the horizon. “I’m staying for the summer,” she said. “After that, I’ll figure things out.”
Beside her Ruth nudged her horse closer. “I meant to ask you last night, but with all the commotion—”
“The engagement?” Jamie guessed.
Ruth beamed, lifting her hand to admire the ring catching the sunlight. “Yes, the engagement. Will you be my maid of honor?”
Jamie’s breath hitched in surprise before she grinned. “Of course.” She reached over and squeezed Ruth’s arm. “I’ll plan everything with Birdie and Sue—you won’t have to lift a finger.” She scanned the open pasture. “Where are your parents?”
“They were up at dawn and gone before breakfast,” Ruth exhaled. “Running a farm is a full-time job.”
As soon as horse camp ended Clayton drove Jamie back to the penthouse, leaving Poppy and her puppies at the ranch.
“I told Ruth,” Jamie said somewhere between Franklin and Nashville.
Clayton glanced over. “Did you, now?”
She nodded. “She’s happy for us.”
“Whatexactly did you tell her?”
“That we’re in love.”
Clayton smirked. “We sure are.”
She smiled, but the warmth faded as she asked, “What did you tell the girls?”
“Nothing.”
She blinked. “Nothing?”
He shrugged. “Just that you’d be bunking with us.”
Bunking with us?
Jamie closed her eyes and counted to ten. This wasn’t how she’d imagined it. She wanted him to tell them they were together—officially.
“Why didn’t you say anything aboutus?”
“Wasn’t sure if you wanted me to.”
She frowned, tilting her head to search his face. “If you’re having second thoughts—”
“I’m not.” His voice was steady, reassuring. The kind of steady that settled deep in her chest. “But you said you didn’t want young’uns, and I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to change your mind.”
Jamie let out a slow breath, the late afternoon heat pressing down around them. Outside the truck the vast Tennessee countryside stretched wide and open—rolling hills, weathered wooden fences, and a lazy dirt road that wound its way back to town. Cows milled in the pasture across the way, their low grunts blending with the distant hum of a tractor somewhere beyond the trees.
So that’s what this was about.
She shifted, angling toward him, her arm draped over the worn leather seat. Dust from the drive stuck to the floorboards, kicked up from the sunbaked road.
“I meantI don’t wantbiologicalchildren.” She met his gaze, her voice soft but sure. “I always figured I’d adopt.”
Relief flickered across his face, so quick and fleeting she might have missed it if she hadn’t been looking for it. His broad shoulders relaxed, the tight line of his jaw easing as he let out a breath.
“That’s good to know.” His fingers drummed lightly against the steering wheel, his voice quieter now. Thoughtful. “The girls love you, you know.”
Jamie felt a warmth spread through her, settling in the places she hadn’t even realized were aching. His daughters—those wild, giggling, dirt-covered troublemakers—had wormed their way into her heart before she’d even had a say in the matter.
